Vlad opened his mouth and closed it. That was true. There was nothing he could do. “Roman will be furious.”
Luke smiled. “I know. But if it were up to Roman, he’d lock me up in a tower to keep me safe. My flat has ridiculous security measures—Roman insisted on it. It’s probably the safest place in England now. That’s why it makes perfect sense for Sebastian to move there while this mess is sorted out.”
Vlad ground his teeth. He had to admit the kid’s logic was sound.
Knowing that he had won, Luke smiled at Sebastian. “See? Even my grumpy bodyguard has no objections. Come on. Roman’s out of the country and I’m bored to death in my huge, empty flat. Vlad is no fun.”
Sebastian seemingly hesitated before looking from Luke to Vlad. Vlad glowered at him. Don’t you dare accept the offer.
A ghost of a smile touched Sebastian’s lips, his eyes flashing with familiar challenge. “Okay,” he told Luke. “Thanks, mate.”
Vlad wanted to punch something.
As if hearing his thoughts, Luke looked at him. “Don’t forget what we talked about, Vlad: if you act like a homophobic ass around my friends, I’m firing you and you’ll be the one doing the explaining to Roman.”
Vlad nodded tersely, ignoring the curious, speculative look Sebastian shot him. He turned away.
Fucking hell. He couldn’t believe his rotten luck. What were the odds of Luke knowing the guy who’d sucked him off in Moscow?
Pretty good, actually, now that he thought about it. Luke and Sebastian both belonged to the privileged London elite. Of course they knew each other. Just his goddamn luck. And just his luck that Luke would invite Sebastian to live with him while Vlad was staying under the same roof.
Vlad normally didn’t believe in higher powers, but if they existed, they must be laughing at him.
Chapter 5
Vlad’s eyes snapped open.
It was still dark out. He couldn’t have been asleep for very long. He had stayed up until the wee hours of the morning to go over the police reports he’d managed to get his hands on. Luke might have forbidden him to interrogate those men, but it didn’t mean Vlad was going to remain in the dark.
He lay still, trying to understand what had awakened him from his exhausted sleep.
Straining his hearing, Vlad waited. The flat was quiet, no sound coming from the other two men’s rooms.
There. The sound of footsteps. Someone was walking toward the bed.
Vlad thought of his knife under the pillow and the gun in the drawer beside the bed.
He didn’t move. The element of surprise was more valuable than the knife.
The footsteps stopped.
Then, the intruder crawled into the bed.
What the actual fuck?
Vlad peered at the man—and it was a man. He could barely make him out as the man rolled closer to him and tucked his face against Vlad’s shoulder, but he was reasonably certain it was Sebastian fucking Sumner.
Bewildered, Vlad stared at the guy in the darkness. He felt like he was missing something. He and Sumner weren’t exactly on snuggling terms. He’d barely spoken a word to the guy after Sebastian had followed them to Luke’s penthouse. In fact, Vlad’s stony silence while Luke showed Sebastian to his room had made it clear to everyone involved what he thought of Luke’s invitation.
“I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but get out.” Vlad didn’t raise his voice, but Sebastian whimpered and pushed his face harder into Vlad’s shoulder. Tremors were racking his body. What in the world?
Reaching out to the lamp, Vlad switched it on. A soft yellow light illuminated the room and he turned back to the other occupant of the bed.
Sebastian’s eyes were open, but they were glassy and unfocused, his breathing even. For all intents and purposes, he seemed asleep. He was sleepwalking.
Vlad put a hand on Sebastian’s shoulder and shook him a little. “Wake up,” he said, growing irritated when there was no reaction. He was tired as hell, his knuckles were aching, and he was in no mood to baby someone, especially this man.
Sebastian didn’t wake up. Instead, he closed his eyes. He was still trembling, trying to burrow deeper into Vlad’s shoulder. It was making Vlad increasingly uncomfortable, considering that they both were wearing only their underwear.
He contemplated shoving Sebastian off his bed and damn everything else, but he had a feeling Luke would make a fuss if he treated his guest that way.
Sighing, Vlad shook the guy harder. “Wake up.”
Sebastian stirred a little, his dark eyelashes fluttering. He rubbed his eyes like a kid, his lips pursing into a pout.
“Get up,” Vlad growled into his ear.
Sebastian jumped, flailing rather comically, his eyes wide and confused as he sat up.
“What the fuck are you doing in my bed?” he said, glaring at Vlad.
Vlad lay back and crossed his arms behind his head. “I should be the one asking that.”